Timothy Crosland

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Timothy Crosland, a barrister, deliberately disclosed a draft Supreme Court judgment (in the Heathrow appeal) on 15 December 2020 in breach of an embargo, knowing it was prohibited and a criminal contempt of court (later confirmed by the Supreme Court, which fined him £5,000 and £15,000 costs). The Tribunal found both charges proven (CD5 and rC8), rejecting his arguments that he had renounced his barrister status and acted in a private capacity, and confirmed jurisdiction. The Tribunal found the misconduct fell within group G (administration of justice) at and beyond the most serious end of the range, and ordered him disbarred with costs of £3,120 to the BSB. No express finding of dishonesty was made.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Deliberate and calculated nature of the actions
• Acted after being refused permission to disclose the draft judgment
• Failed to rectify the wide disclosure, ignoring the court's request to remove it
• Acted fully knowing the consequences
• No regret, remorse or insight; no acceptance of fault
• Risk of repetition could not be discounted

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary record
• Favourable references
• Self-referred to the BSB (albeit without acknowledging fault)
• Isolated act